Description: The distribution of the mean oceanic oxygen concentration results from a balance between ventilation and consumption. In the eastern tropical Pacific and Atlantic, this balance creates extended oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) at intermediate depth. Here, we analyze hydrographic and velocity data from shipboard and moored observations, which were taken along the 23°W meridian cutting through the Tropical North East Atlantic (TNEA) OMZ, to study the distribution and generation of oxygen variability. By applying the extended Osborn-Cox model, the respective role of mesoscale stirring and diapycnal mixing in producing enhanced oxygen variability, found at the southern and upper boundary of the OMZ, is quantified. From the well-ventilated equatorial region toward the OMZ core a northward eddy-driven oxygen flux is observed whose divergence corresponds to an oxygen supply of about 2.4 µmol kg-1 year-1 at the OMZ core depth. Above the OMZ core, mesoscale eddies act to redistribute low- and high-oxygen waters associated with westward and eastward currents, respectively. Here, absolute values of the local oxygen supply 〉10 mmol kg-1 year-1 are found, likely balanced by mean zonal advection. Combining our results with recent studies, a refined oxygen budget for the TNEA OMZ is derived. Eddy-driven meridional oxygen supply contributes more than 50 % of the supply required to balance the estimated oxygen consumption. The oxygen tendency in the OMZ, as given by the multidecadal oxygen decline, is maximum slightly above the OMZ core and represents a substantial imbalance of the oxygen budget reaching about 20 % of the magnitude of the eddy-driven oxygen supply.

Description: CTD, VMADCP, LADCP and mooring data of several SFB754 cruises

Description: The related study used oxygen, hydrographic and velocity data from ship sections and moored observations in order to investigate decadal changes of the respective properties in the eastern tropical North Atlantic.

Description: lmost all long-term moored observations of the SFB 754 were conducted in the tropical Atlantic between the equator and 18° N, except for one mooring that was deployed in the tropical South Pacific (see Table C4). Moorings were typically equipped with instruments recording pressure, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and current velocity. The moorings at 17.6° N, 24.2° W which have been deployed in the same location for several periods were additionally equipped with biogeochemical sensors recording variables such as partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), fluorescence, and particle fluxes. Instruments with pressure, temperature, conductivity and oxygen sensors were calibrated in situ immediately prior to and after a mooring deployment period by attaching them to the CTD frame during CTDO casts. Correction terms were then developed from the difference between the sensor readings and the calibrated CTDO data during several minute long calibration stops. These correction terms were then applied to the full deployment periods. This ensured best data quality with recognition of potential sensor drifts and also allowed for the estimation of calibration and measurement errors (Hahn et al. 2014, Bittig et al. 2018, Berx et al. 2019). Moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler bin depths were corrected using the sound speed at instrument depth following the approach by Shcherbina et al. (2005). Velocities were not corrected, but respective measurement errors were assumed as described in Hahn et al. (2014). For all instruments within a mooring that did not record pressure, full deployment pressure time series were estimated by linearly interpolating between the instruments having a pressure sensor.